19
Life lessons
Gadi Benyamin is a life coach who lives in
North Hinksey but has clients all over the
world. Over the course of a fascinating
hour, Gadi told me how he came to be a life
coach and how coaching works, and
suggested a little exercise that we can all
try.
Gadi grew up in Tel Aviv (Israel), ‘the white
city’ famous for its Bauhaus architecture,
and he initially wanted to be an architect.
However he decided in his early 20s that he should do something more
meaningful, and he studied economics and communication at Haifa
University. One month after he graduated, he started to work in
Advertisiing, since this was a form of “realistic creativity”. However after
two years he felt unfulfilled there and, in his own words, left to look for
his destiny. One week later he met his now-wife, Neora.
Gadi spent the next three years doing things that he loved: writing,
analysing and producing cinema, and then getting an MSc in cinema.
He went to drama school to get better at writing, and wrote lots of funny
sketches for television. But that still wasn’t his destiny.
So for a year he sat in a café for 9–10 hours per day just writing. Gadi
wrote everything, including what it felt like to be a writer, and ended up
writing about how he solved problems with playfulness. Aha! That was
his destiny. Gadi could help people by helping them to solve problems.
He got involved in learning and teaching about the Satya method of life
coaching. He has been coaching now for about 13 years, has become
a senior coach, and also mentors other coaches.
In brief, the Satya method aims to ease suffering, and to allow people to
become free (both ‘free from’ and ‘free to’, in whatever way makes
sense for the individual). We all have emotions that make us feel
miserable: anger, disappointment, helplessness, jealousy etc. Gadi
explains: “The suffering, and what causes the 'dead ends' in our life,
isn't the emotions themselves, but being in the grip of these emotions.
As we grow up, we condition ourselves to react to those emotions, in a
way that doesn't serve us well. For example, sometimes as children we
understand that if we please our parents, they will love us more, or pay
attention to us, or even that will keep a peaceful house.